BlogWorld is Producing One Big New Media Expo Event in 2013 Instead of Two

We know lots of you make your conference plans months in advance, so we want to let you know our agenda for 2013. Although we’ve hosted both a West Coast show and an East Coast show for the past two years, beginning in 2013 we’ll be returning to our original conference schedule. That means one big NMX (New Media Expo) conference and trade show in Las Vegas; just one event per year.

We had three reasons for our decision.

First of all, many of you told us you really wanted one big event where you knew you would see everyone in one place. Initially we thought bringing you an event on each coast would make it more convenient for all, but what we learned is that it just didn’t meet the needs of our community. You told us what you wanted, and we listened.

Second, New York is a very expensive city for hosting a show the size of this one, and those additional costs interfered with our goal of offering content creators a reasonably-priced conference going experience. All of the costs at The Javitz Convention Center (really the only venue we can hold an event our size in New York) were expensive across the board as well. This means everything, from the carpeting and AV, to internet and labor costs. This made our event too expensive for some exhibitors, attendees and us. On top of that the facility simply didn’t meet our standards for a/v technology and quality, and the wi-fi was undependable.

Lastly, we are growing quickly and adding even more events in 2013. This past March, we acquired the world’s largest travel blogging conference, TBEX. We have already produced a North American Show in Keystone Colorado, and followed it with a European event in Costa Brava, Spain this year. Our Keystone event was just 10 days after BlogWorld New York, and it created scheduling challenges for us.

We will be producing at least three new events in 2013 but they will be vertical events like TBEX.

What does all this mean?…It means if you want to get your New Media Expo fix in 2013, it’s time to make plans to come join the fun in Las Vegas at our biggest and best event ever! Since this is the only NMX conference of the year, we’re pulling out all the stops. This will be our largest Expo Hall and our biggest attendance ever. We expect over 4,000 attendees this year! Speakers and attendees are flying in from all over the globe (more than 50 countries, in fact), and it’s downright cheap to attend. Pre-event conference tickets are available at great discount prices, and you can get a comfy suite (yes, I said suite!) at the Rio for just 99 bucks a night! And the conference is being held at the hotel, so that means it’s convenient as can be, no need to pay for cabs or rent a car; it’s all under one roof. You will have more time to spend networking with colleagues and old friends, and making new ones.

An important note, by moving the event to January we are aligned with CES week. The last day of NMX kicks off the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show. This will give the thousands of bloggers and technology professionals in town even more opportunities.

So, if you’ve been watching news and excitement build for the NMX Las Vegas event, and you’ve felt torn waiting for news about an East Coast event next Summer, wait no longer. You snooze, you lose. All your peers–and competitors–will be learning and networking at the Rio in January. Will you be there? Or will you miss the boat?

Feedback

This is disappointing to me for two reasons. First, the timing isn’t ideal. Many people that attained your events also attend Affiliate Summit. That event takes place the week after yours in January (and has for years) which means that attendees will have to choose. Having your event in either May or October spaced things out for those that wanted to attend both. Second, the RIO is not a great place for a conference IMO. The hotel is pretty dingy and rundown and the distance from the rooms to the conference center is far – you may as well take a cab from another hotel.

I know you’ll get lots of opinions on this. As someone that has been attending this event since it was the Podcast & New Media Expo in Ontario, this is the first time I will not attend an event due to timing and facilities.

Hi Scott, I’d like to share my impressions of the Rio in case it helps you or anyone.

I’m a very particular person, and Rick will tell you when looking at venues I’m super critical.

When we did our site inspections at the Rio; I found all newly redesigned/decorated hotel rooms (suites in fact, roomy and comfy, with fresh new decor), and the conference ballrooms and conference facility overall was quite nice.

First off thank you for the feedback Scott. We appreciate your feedback regardless of your eventual decision.

We decided to go back to Las Vegas because our attendees asked us to. We only left in the first place because we could not get the space we needed in the October / November time frame.

We moved to January for several reasons including co-locating with the IAWTV awards on January 8. That event attracts 800 Web TV creators. CES is January 8 – 12 and thousands of bloggers attend that event.

Lastly we contacted both CES and Shawn and Missy at Affiliate Summit before we picked the January dates. CES welcomed us to town seeing the same synergies we did. When we booked the show Affiliate Summit was planning to move away from their January dates so they approved of us picking our dates as well.

In the end they had to go with their January dates due to space availability issues.

We know this creates a conflict for people who attend both shows but we just couldn’t avoid it

As for the RIO, it was definitely our best option for the dates by far. CES takes up all of the LVCC and Sands Convention Center. Mandalay Bay has a large event that time of year moving in.

I am sorry this doesn’t work logistically for you. I hope we can figure out a way to make it work but I thought you deserved an explanation why we chose the dates and location that we did.

Totally bummed there’s no east coast event this year was looking forward to it.

Should you ever reconsider doing coastal events again, remember that New York is not the only city on the east coast! There are other great cities with beautiful convention centers and hotels (Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Raleigh, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, and even Chattanooga – while not entirely coastal still easier to get to than Vegas for someone who lives on the east coast)

I realize I said “this year,” I really meant next year – 2013 – I guess in my mind it’s already next year, probably because all the local stores have been selling holiday decor and goodies since the beginning of October.

I love the Rio, so I have no problem with it being held there. At some point, NMX, like Affiliate Summit, will outgrow it, and I strongly recommend Caesar’s when that happens. That’s where Summit is now, and it’s fantastic.

The timing though, is a major issue. I know you guys think it’s a positive that you’re aligned with CES, but it’s not – not for everyone, at least. I love Vegas, but I can’t be there for two or three weeks solid to attend NMX, CES and Summit one after the other.

There are 52 weeks to choose from. Please don’t continue to pick from the four in January after 2013. I hear spring is lovely in Las Vegas.

Have you thought about a conference in Buffalo, NY? With Toronto a couple of hours away and NYC, Boston, Philly, and DC about 10 hours away, or an hour flight, Buffalo would be perfect for a Summer time East coast conference. Something to think about.